Personal Responsibility

I am a computer NERD. I work on computers for a living. I am part of a three man IT department at my work. We support forty nine end users at our work. I generally take the support calls for general everyday common problems, like documents not printing, not being able to sign on to the computer, stuff like that. Now in order for me to fix a problem, I have to know what exactly led up to the malfunction. I usually ask people, What did you do, meaning what were you doing when the flames started shooting out of your monitor. I'm not accusing people of anything, I just really can not think of anything else to get the most information out of the user. One of my pet peeves is when I am told, nothing, that's their answer, nothing. Me:"What were you doing when the computer started shredding your tie?" User:" Nothing, I was just sitting at my desk doing nothing. I didn't even touch the darn thing." Now you know and I know that's not the truth. Why do people find it so hard to accept responsibility for their own actions?



When we were all kids, we all used the "Not me" response to our parents. When we were caught red handed with the pair of scissors in our hands and the curtains are all in shreds, we all answered "Not Me" when our parents asked "Who did this?" But we were kids then. Somewhere in our maturing process we should have learned that no matter how complex you weave the story, end result is you are going to have to answer for your actions. What I want to know is this, when did that end? Who was in charge of sending out that memo? I didn't get mine. I know that if I order a cup of coffee it's going to be hot. And if I happen to spill it on myself because I can't juggle me cell phone and laptop while drinking coffee, it's my fault. Not the kid behind the counter that sold me the coffee. Not the company that employed the kid. Not anyone else's fault but mine for being a clutz. I shouldn't be allowed to sue a restaurant for providing me with something that I knew was going to be hot.



When people don't take responsibility for their actions, it's the rest of us that have to pay. Have you ever read some warning labels and said to yourself that no one is so dumb that they would iron a shirt while they are wearing it. You would be wrong. Not only did they do it, but the sued the manufacturer of the iron for not warning them. The rest of us pay with higher costs of goods because manufacturers are scared of stupid lawsuits. I'm not saying that if you buy a defective product it's your fault. But what I am saying is if you dump the gin and tonic down the back of your monitor and flames start shooting out. When I ask you what you were doing, I don't want to hear Nothing, honest I wasn't doing a thing.